Filiano J J, Choi J C, Kinney H C
Department of Neurology, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
J Comp Neurol. 1990 Mar 15;293(3):448-65. doi: 10.1002/cne.902930308.
The histology and location of human respiratory chemosensitive fields are not known. In contrast, the physiology of respiratory chemosensory areas in the ventral medulla of cats has been studied extensively, and their anatomy has been partially described. Using basic principles of comparative cytoarchitecture and computer-aided reconstructions of serial-sectioned medullae, we describe the histology and three-dimensional distribution of putative respiratory chemosensors in the feline and human infant medulla. We found that ventrolateral neurons of the human nucleus conterminalis are homologous to neurons identified in the feline L chemosensitive field by Trouth and others, and that ventrolaterally situated neurons in the human arcuate nucleus correspond to neurons predominating in the feline S and M fields. In addition, there are foci of thickened marginal glia along the feline ventral medullary surface that colocalize with chemosensitive fields identified by physiologic studies reported by others; we identify similar foci in the infant medulla. Thickened marginal glia are intermixed with neuronal fibers, often adjacent to neurons of the feline chemosensitive fields and their human counterparts, suggesting that they constitute a chemosensory neuropil at the medullary surface. Computer-aided reconstructions provide insight into the three-dimensional topography of putative respiratory chemosensors and their relationships to other brainstem structures in ways not obvious in single or even multiple sections. This delineation of candidate human respiratory chemosensors is a first step toward their postmortem analysis in patients with central ventilatory control disorders where finding histological abnormalities in these sites would support their role in human ventilation.
人类呼吸化学感受场的组织学特征和位置尚不清楚。相比之下，猫延髓腹侧呼吸化学感受区的生理学已得到广泛研究，其解剖结构也有部分描述。利用比较细胞构筑学的基本原理和对连续切片延髓的计算机辅助重建，我们描述了猫和人类婴儿延髓中假定的呼吸化学感受器的组织学特征和三维分布。我们发现，人类终末核的腹外侧神经元与特鲁思等人在猫的L化学感受场中鉴定出的神经元同源，并且人类弓状核中腹外侧位置的神经元与猫的S和M场中占主导地位的神经元相对应。此外，沿猫延髓腹侧表面有增厚的边缘胶质细胞灶，这些细胞灶与其他人报道的生理学研究确定的化学感受场共定位；我们在婴儿延髓中也发现了类似的细胞灶。增厚的边缘胶质细胞与神经纤维混合在一起，通常与猫化学感受场及其人类对应物的神经元相邻，这表明它们在延髓表面构成了一个化学感觉神经毡。计算机辅助重建以单张甚至多张切片中不明显的方式，为假定的呼吸化学感受器的三维地形及其与其他脑干结构的关系提供了见解。这种对人类候选呼吸化学感受器的描绘是对患有中枢性通气控制障碍患者进行死后分析的第一步，在这些部位发现组织学异常将支持它们在人类通气中的作用。
